Fondant Flowers for Cakes (with Stems and Leaves)

🧾Supplies required

• Fondant - I used Satin Ice white fondant and colored it red, purple, yellow and green for the flowers and leaves
• Food color - I used Wilton and Americolor gel food colors to tint the white fondant for the flowers.
• Flower and leaf cutters - I used the simple 5 petal flower cutters for the flowers and Wilton Lily flower petal cutter for the leaves. The 5 petal flower cutters I used were in 3 sizes - small, medium, and large.
• Fondant smoother - I used fondant smoother to help in rolling an even-sized green fondant strip for the flower stems.
• Toothpick or needle tool - I used this to mark veins on the leaves.
• Ball tool and flower sponge - these 2 tools were used to thin the edges of the flower petals.
• Flower formers - I used these in 2 sizes. The small ones were for the top and middle layers of petals on the flower, while the larger ones were used for the bottom layer. The flower formers helped the petals to dry in a natural curved shape.
• Fondant glue - to stick the flower petals together.
• Shortening - I used shortening to stick the flowers, stems, and leaves on the cake. 

Step 1: Prepare the cutters

First of all, get the flower cutters and the leaf cutter ready. For the fondant flowers, you will need 5 petal flower cutters in 3 different sizes. 

Step 2: Cut and shape the 2nd and 3rd layer of flower petals

Roll out some red fondant thin and cut out flowers using the medium sized cutter. Dust your workspace with some powdered sugar or cornstarch when rolling the fondant to prevent it from sticking. You can make your own DIY dusting pouch for this.

Thin the edges of the fondant flower petals using the ball tool and a flower sponge. The sponge helps prevent the fondant from tearing as you apply pressure to thin it with the ball tool.

Use your fingers to form slight folds on the sides of each petal.

Place the flowers in a small flower former (as I mentioned earlier, I used 2 different sized flower formers).

Next, roll out some purple fondant and cut out flowers using the smallest flower cutter. And similar to the red fondant flowers above, thin the petals with the ball tool.

And then form small folds on the sides of each flower, similar to the red ones above.

Step 3: Assemble the 2nd and 3rd layer petals

Using a damp brush, attach the purple flowers to the red ones made earlier.

Step 4: Make the flower centers

For the flower centers, roll some yellow fondant into tiny balls and then flatten each ball down with your thumb to form a circle.

Attach the yellow center to the flower with some fondant glue and then leave the flower aside to set. 

Step 5: Make the first and largest petal

Next, make the largest flower petal. For this, use the largest flower cutter and cut out flowers in purple colored fondant (similar to the purple fondant used above).

Thin the edges, and then form folds on the sides.

Place the flowers in the larger flower formers and leave them aside to set.

Step 6: Assemble the flowers

Attach the assembled second and third layers of flower petals to the largest layer with fondant glue. Make sure the petals in each layer are aligned to one another.

And this is how the completed flowers should look like:

To make smaller flowers, you can omit the largest petal layer as shown below.

Step 7: Make the stems

For the stems, roll some green fondant into a thin strip. To achieve an even strip, you can use a fondant smoother to roll the fondant. Otherwise, just roll it with your fingers.

Cut the strip into shorter strips of equal length. These will form the stems for the flower plant.

Step 8: Attach the fondant stems to the cake

Attach the stems to the cake with shortening. Use an an icing scraper to make sure the stems were vertically straight on the cake.

Step 9: Make and attach the fondant leaves

Once the stems were done, make the leaves. Roll some green fondant thin and use the lily petal cutter to cut out the leaves.  

Test the positioning of the leaves on the cake by placing one cut out leave on the cake. Remove and cut off the excess from the leave.

Use this leaf as a guide to cut the rest of the leaves for the cake.

Before sticking the leaves on the cake, mark the veins on the leaves with a tooth pick or a needle tool. You can do this freehand, starting with the center vein, and then the sides. 

And similar to the stems, attach the leaves to the cake with shortening as well.

Step 10: Attach the flowers to the cake

Once the leaves and stems are all done, attach the fondant flowers to the cake as shown:

And that completes the fondant flowers. You can use this flowers not just on the sides of a round cake, but also on a square cake. You can also decorate the top of a sheet cake or cupcakes with these flowers.